Abstract
Stroke imposes a heavy psychological stress and financial burden for individuals and families due to high disability and mortality. Stroke is the first cause of death in urban China, and the second cause of death in rural areas. The International Stroke Summit has been held since 2004; the World Stroke Organization (WSO) now endorses this series of meetings. The aim of the summit is to improve stroke management in developing countries like China. Since 2004, the summit has been held in Beijing, Nanjing and Wuhan.
The Fifth International Stroke Summit was held in Nanjing, China, from 17–19 July 2009. This meeting was organised by Jinling Hospital and Nanjing University Institute of Neurology. Dr Natan Bornstein, Vice Chairman of the WSO, delivered a warm address in the opening ceremony; Professor Xinfeng Liu declared the summit open.
Professor Xinfeng Liu made a presentation entitled ‘Revascularization of the occluded carotid’. His report gave a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in interventional management of the acute and chronic cerebrovascular occlusion, and demonstrated some cases with occlusive diseases recanalised with endovascular procedures. Interventional treatment of chronic vascular occlusion is one of the major challenges of interventional therapy and whether patients would benefit from it still needs confirmation via further research. Dr Jianmin Liu, from Changhai Hospital Shanghai, reported on the current and future interventional treatment of cerebral aneurism. Dr Paul Myers from Newcastle, Australia, reviewed the latest techniques in carotid intervention and clinical trial. Professor Liu noted that the dispute of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) will continue in years to come. Both procedures have advantages and disadvantages, and disputation and related studies will benefit the patients.
The summit is also involved in other aspects of stroke study. Dr Natan Bornstein, from Tel-Aviv Medical Center, delivered a lecture concerning the recent progress in vascular cognitive impairment. He suggested that 20–25% of stroke patients will be demented after stroke, which makes stroke an important risk factor for dementia. He emphasised the distinctions between Vascular Dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) because these two entities have different risk factors and therapy. Most demented individuals have dual pathology, even if one predominates, this does not mean the other is unimportant or does not contribute to the cognitive loss. Dr Gelin Xu introduced Nanjing Stroke Registry Program (NSRP) and the follow-up of patients who underwent endovascular treatment. The NSRP has registered 3000 cases of first-ever stroke since 2003. All registered patients had been followed regularly, and their baseline and follow-up information was stored in the NSRP data bank. Dr Xu noted, using NSRP as a platform, they are translating some laboratory results into clinical practice for stroke management. Dr Zhiming Zhou from Jinling Hospital introduced the procedure of NSRP, its application in clinical teaching, research and technical training. His introduction aims to encourage cooperative study concerning NSRP and made it an interregional and community-based programme.
More than 1000 participants from 13 countries and regions attended this summit, which includes 30 foreign experts, 1030 domestic represents from 30 provinces and autonomous regions of China; many people watched this summit via internet. Thirty selected abstracts submitted to the conference were published in Cerebrovascular Disease. In the closing ceremony, the organisers tentatively declared that the Sixth International Stroke Summit will still be held in Nanjing. Summit schedule is 9–11 July 2010. We sincerely invite all stroke experts from around the world to contribute to the summit, July 2010!